St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-06-09
CHINATOWN BY GASLIGHT.


city. For two hours no language was
heard save the unintelligible chatter of
the Chinese tongue, which has over
$4,000 characters instead of an alpha
bet, and we mingled with these for
eigners as fearlessly as if we all wore
brass buttons, for Americans are re-
ceived everywhere with courtesy and
respect.
We were first ushered into a fashion
able restaurant. Gayly cOlored lam
terms cast a brilliant light over it's
broad piazzas while the decorations in
the interior were artistic and costly.
The carving and furniture in the third
story were said to have cost 100000.
In these rooms the chairs and tables
were inlaid with mOther-Of-pearl while
the walls were deliberately carved and
visit the place where a wealthy mer-
chant was giving banquet to his
friends, and thus caught glimpse of
Chinese society life. The tables were
loaded with all sorts of fancy dishes
and a small orchestra was supposed to
give an added charm to the festivities.
The banquet probably consisted OF
rice cooked in various ways, soups and
dried fish, native fruits and tea served
without milk or sugar. The Chinese
are said to have greater variety OF
food than any other nation and they
make excellent cooks, as many Cali
fOrnia housekeepeTs can testify.
A brief description of one of the six
Joss houses or temples will suffice for
all, and our party visited the Clay
street temple, the most elaborate OF
the lot 1t is cOnsecrated to Kwan
Tai, the god of war, and cost the wOr-
shippers $4,000. Entering the door
the first object we saw was large bel,
Ornamented with carved dragons and
gong. These musical instruments
are not used to call the people to wOr-
ship but to arouse the god, for some
times the gods are "asleep" or con a
Journey" In front of the idol is an
elegant piece of carving encased in
glass and valued at $4,000 while red
placards around the walls tell who
have made gifts to the temple. The
fragrant sandal wood is always burn
ing OH the altar, and is pleasing con-
trast to the OdOrs of the candles. The
idol is made of wood, hardly life size,
painted in flaming cOlOrs and the es-
sence of ugliness. Around the room
were lesser divinities, equally attrac-
tive, before whose shrine the Chinese
Frustrated themselves, waving their
divining sticks as they offered up their
devOtiOns. They worship i'll these
temples at all times of the day and
there is great irreverence and cOnfu
sion in their devOtiOns. They have so
many deities that one does not wonder
at the confusion in their worship and
their priests have great control over
them. An American who reviled q
Chinaman for his pOlytheism received
this laconic reply: "Chinaman's relig-
ion heap better than Mclean mans.
You go church Sunday little bit ;
come home and alice week do heap
bad things. Chinaman has gods at
home, see them alice time Chinaman
must be always good"
Crossing several narrow lanes and
walking up Murderer's alley, we came
at length to the entrance of the "ROyal
theatren and gained admittance by
paying four bits or so cents. All for
eigners are seated on the stage with
the orchestra and actors, while the
Chinese ladies occupy seats in the gal
lery. The parquet seats about 600
people and is crowded every night.
The play often continues from six
o'clock in the evening to three o'clock
in the morning, and the tragical parts
are usually reached about midnight.
Historical scenes form the plot of the
plays which are never completed in Il
single night but continue for several
months. To give a fair criticism of
the play one ought to have q season
ticket but an American rarely cares to
stay here longer than half an hour.
The orchestra occupy the rear of the
stage and their music would do cred
it to Fourth of July process
sion of antiques and horribles. 1t is
ear-piercing and deafening, particu-
larly the cymbals, which are played
with unceasing vigor. The stringed
instruments are curiOusly shaped, while
the music (P) of the wind instruments
is cross between the music of IL
Scotch bagpipe and calliOpe. The
actors are richly and grOtesquely dress
ed and the men impersOnate female
characters with great skill. The act
ing is mostly by pantOmime and the
few sentences that are spoken are
shouted in very shrill voice.. There
is no curtain or stage scenery, and we
saw n naval battle portrayed by lots of
fighting while a man dressed as u slave
marched across the stage with an oar
Most of the actors are good gymnasts
and wooden swords were used in their
duels with wonderful dexterity. But
if the American does not enjoy the
theatre the MongOlian does, and last
week all Chinatown was in high glee
celebrating the 2000th anniversary of
the founding of the theatre in the
FlOwery Kingdom.
The homes of these people are much
more unattractive than their theatres
and temples. The old Globe hotel
was once a high-tOned tavern and had
about 60 rooms in it's three stories.
To-day it swarms with over 1000 Chi
nese and whole families occupy dark
rooms smaller than a section in a Pull
man car. The rooms, courts and alleys
are filled with smoke, for all the cook
ing is done in portable stoves and no
provision is made for getting rid of the
smoke. No cOnt1agratiOn has ever Wis
tied this section and one doubts very
much if the damp and dismal struc-
lures will ever be destroyed by fire. In
marked contrast to the uninviting
homes are the personal habits of their
occupants and to their scrupulous
cleanliness is due the freedom from
aninauipS and contaUiOus diseases In